Backwoods Music Festival: A Cultural Conversation

Can you feel it? There’s a storm on the other side of August, and it promises to end your summer in a sonic stir.

It’s name - Backwoods Camping & Music Festival. It’s aim - to create a community of mindful, culture loving creatures the chance to learn, dance, and appreciate each other. It’s tools - music, art, education, and play.

As we enter the experience that is Backwoods, keep one thing in mind. This festival is not a single, static event that happens once a year. Instead, Backwoods is a conversation, one that happens between you and the minds that envisioned the magical weekend ahead. The conversation is intentional - aimed at forming a community, composed of you, the like-yous, and the unlike-yous with which you had no idea you had so much in common.

Dive deeper into the experience of Backwoods with us, pick up your passes, and find us in the forest. Take a lesson from the trees, and root into a culture that promises to nurture the soul in ways only music, camping, and community can.

Remember, it’s a conversation. . .

Being that Backwoods is only in its second year, we have the chance to experience a festival in a most raw, unspoiled form. The tribe is young and its community tightly woven. With respect to this, they put feedback at a premium. Though year one had an incredibly positive response they’ve strived to improve for year two based on last year’s suggestions. Check it out.

The conversation is open at Backwoods. A colorful buffet of workshops and activities promise to keep the mind and body active while providing space for personal growth within small groups. Yoga classes, chakra balancing, and numerology workshops will be in the Healing Dome. Swimming, slip-n-slide, and water volleyball take place on the Beach. Continuous open meditation can be found in the Sacred Temple. Lose yourself in the Hay Maze. For the full list of workshops & activities, visit their schedule here.

... to build a community.

Don’t be fooled by the one weekend dates that bracket Backwoods, this festival is a yearlong production. The Backwoods Festival is prelimed by the Trail to the Woods, a 15 part “Battle for Backwoods” event throughout Colorado, Missouri, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas, including a stop with our friend at George’s Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville. From their schedule, it’s clear that they are pulling from the the culture capitals of modern americana.

This festival really hits home for Fayettechill with their Plant a Tree program.  Backwoods is partnering this year with Trees for the Future to plant a tree for every ticket sold. Learn more about this wonderful, life giving organization through the video below:

The trees are an emblem of the rooted culture that they aim to establish. The soul of these festivals can be found in the music and all come with the intention for all to enjoy themselves. The line up is cultured and diverse. Its schedule can be found in full form here. The Motherland stage (schedule below) is surrounded by trees, lakeside, and is placed in the middle of the woods to create a natural amphitheater. Let your free flags fly and be prepared to dance.

To preview some of the music we are feeling at this year's festival, check out the tracks below from Nahko, Marian Hill, Fractal Sky, Atta, and Michael Menert.

All photos kindly provided by Jamie Seed Photography | www.jamieseed.com